Printing Industry News Digest No.123, November 24, 2012

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 123, providing a summary of major news items from the printing, publishing, packaging, digital, and communications technology sectors. PIND incorporates brief summaries and links to the week’s key news stories so that you can look up that all important detail, digging deeper behind the headline.

We mentioned manroland sheetfed at the top of last weeks news, but manroland web systems (now an entirely separate company) is selling hardware, and continues to develop new and imaginative solutions for both newspaper and commercial web press users. The latest news features the integration of tablet-based controllers with web press hardware.

Press installations are few these days, and Japanese manufactured press installations even fewer due to the exchange rate at this time, but packaging specialist Glossop Cartons found the need to install a second Mitsubishi press at its Derbyshire HQ due to the knowledge and expertise of the supplier M Partners. Litho press experts at the UK distributor for Mitsubishi products provided a solution to a problem posed by the packaging company.

Cloud hosting heads for consolidation in Europe as Claranet absorbs competitor Star, but TechCrunch suggests that SaaS could be on its way out.

AutoTrader, meanwhile, is talking of record viewing numbers at its web site, where 11 million unique visitors popped by in October.

The Hewlett-Packard / Autonomy gig is has been getting plenty of web space this last week. The Guardian provides a summary of where we are now.

Further suggestions, this time from the Guardian, that Windows 8 is taking off fairly slowly. Perhaps no surprises given people’s experiences with previous operating systems, which have often required significant updates just a few months down the line.

Nice posting from the guys at Lifehacker detailing what calls 50 free apps we’re most thankful for. Can’t disagree with the majority: if you are not making the most of some of these excellent offerings, have a quick read through!

In response to a question re keeping notes in sync, Lifehacker offers in interesting post with a wide range of solutions, many of which we have tried, and most of which we have liked. To us, however, it takes too long to reach the obvious answer: Evernote.

In Tablet-Talk, it will come as no surprise following the recent rash of affordable product introductions, that this festive period is already being tagged as the Tablet Christmas. Future Publishing is suggesting that this will result in growth of e-editions of magazines.
Our friends at Mashable suggest that the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is good but no iPad killer.

Keep your finger on the pulse: grab an RSS feed of PIND (copy this link into your feed reader); click here for the GenesisNews #Print Daily to get the latest daily stories; or click here for regular Tech & Comms updates in blog or RSS form. You can also connect to a free subscription of the Print Daily for an update on print, publishing, packaging and associated technology delivered straight to your in-box every day!

For details on Genesis Marketing – publishers of PIND – click here.

PIND123    

Missed Issue 122, including manroland sheetfed update? Then simply click here!

Issue 121: Useful packaging
Issue 120: Random Penguin publishing
Issue 119: iPad Mini and Windows 8



Get your Tech & Comms updates direct from the blog, use the RSS feed, or keep updated via Twitter.

Printing Industry News Digest No.122, November 17, 2012

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 122, providing a summary of major news items from the printing, publishing, packaging, digital, and communications technology sectors. PIND incorporates brief summaries and links to the week’s key news stories so that you can look up that all important detail, digging deeper behind the headline.

Whilst delighted to hear that some 2,000 jobs have been preserved in the reorganisation of the manroland sheetfed business, we are still mystified as to where the approximate £40 million of wages will come from. This sum equates to the profitable sale of several hundred, or more likely thousands, printing presses in a highly competitive market. Even the market leader is struggling to shift enough metal, and is loosing money big time!

Having highlighted that little problem, we must not forget, Print is Big! We were delighted to be reminded this week of the Print is Big infographic-based web site: a US focused salute to one of the largest industries in the world. By $$$ size print eclipses most sectors; it produces 45 trillion pages annually, to emphasise the “big”; and is still growing, despite what you might read on the internet!

With that in mind, it is well worth reading this excellent news article from “The Atlantic”. It focuses on the turbulent times endured by a printer and his 1940’s Heidelberg press in Mogadishu, Somalia. So, Mr Printer in the UK or USA, do you still think you have it tough?!

Is this the next big thing in publishing? A camera integrated with a Sony PlayStation reads code from a printed book and turns it into an animated augmented reality, with the player interacting with the storyline via the game controller. A sprinkling of Harry Potter magic dust could certainly aid its success!

Mac based fans of Evernote will probably already know that version 5 of the free software is now available on the app store. They tell us that it contains some 100-plus new features. It certainly has a sharper, clearer new interface, and an improved search facility. If you are not a convert yet, take a closer look!

Interesting little summary from the guys at Lifehacker about common problems associated with the cloud storage systems. Also in cloud world, Microsoft has released info for SkyDrive SDK’s, allowing programers to integrate the product into apps. SkyDrive is also a welcome addition to IFTTT (If This Then That), the customisable action/trigger cloud based software program that we have spoken of often. Lifehacker also asks, is the cloud good enough for back-up?

UK 4G moving forward in the New Year: bidding to start in January 2013 on 4G spectrum.

Tablet talk begins with an Android update for those working with a Nexus 7: you will have noted I am sure that you can now upload Android 4.2 for your pleasure. Phone users with Android 4.2 will have a number of camera enhancements to enjoy, including a new panoramic picture capability, but with Nexus 7 the two best enhancements that I have come across in this general tidy-up are the stop-watch feature, and, best of all, the gesture typing capability. It really works well and is faster than trying to “type” on a miniature keyboard.

On the subject of Android tablets, the smart Xmas investment might be the new 32Gb Nexus 7 with 3G. Unlocked with a SIM slot and Jelly Bean 4.2 the US price of $299 has to be the bargain of the year!

Tablets are being blamed for Dell’s latest unhealthy figures, with both revenues and profits on the slide at the once great box shifter.

Least surprising news of the week: Microsoft Surface isn’t an instant hit as sales start modestly.
Keep your finger on the pulse: grab an RSS feed of PIND (copy this link into your feed reader); click here for the GenesisNews #Print Daily to get the latest daily stories; or click here for regular Tech & Comms updates in blog or RSS form. You can also connect to a free subscription of the Print Daily for an update on print, publishing, packaging and associated technology delivered straight to your in-box every day! For details on Genesis Marketing – publishers of PIND – click here.

PIND122  
 
Missed Issue 121, including useful packaging? Then simply click here!

Issue 120: Random Penguin publishing
Issue 119: iPad Mini and Windows 8
Issue 118: A bad week for print



Get your Tech & Comms updates direct from the blog, use the RSS feed, or keep updated via Twitter.

Printing Industry News Digest No.121, November 10, 2012

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 121, providing a summary of major news items from the printing, publishing, packaging, digital, and communications technology sectors. PIND incorporates brief summaries and links to the week’s key news stories so that you can look up that all important detail, digging deeper behind the headline.

Nice to see in this high-tech world that product packaging can still be put to good use – even by the wealthy Apple company! What would appear to be iPhone or iPod packaging seems destined to morph into a stand for the product. Amazing what they can do nowadays!

On which subject, Mastercard has released a bank-card with screen and keyboard included. The touch sensitive buttons provide the ability the create a one-time password for online banking.

Returning briefly to packaging, it was good to see the digital press people at Xeikon are still keeping busy in the label sector: a Xeikon 3030 installation at PeterLynn Ltd in Corby has become that company’s first venture into digital label production.

The Guardian has been reminding us of the transformation of publishing. A readable brief history lesson if nothing else!

Meanwhile, we are advised that the UK contains millions of people lacking a basic online knowledge. We see a chunk of folk in the over 60-bracket who are likely to fall into this collective, more worrying is the 60% of small to medium sized businesses with little or no digital presence.

Dropbox fans, as well as users of other cloud storage solutions, might well be interested to compare their favourite solution with the service being offered by Cubby. The new entrant suggests some different ways of working: well worth a look we think.

Still not convinced or ready for Twitter? Take note: the 85-year-old leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics is getting himself sorted with a different type of “follower”. Pope Benedict is adding to the existing tech focus of www.pope2you.ne with the Twitter focus. The papal handle appears to be @PopeBenedictXVI - bet he gets more followers than us.
Tablet focus this week begins with TechRadar’s opinion on the top 10 devices. It rates the iPad Mini and iPad 4 as one and two, but perhaps surprisingly these are followed by the Google Nexus brace in seven and ten inch formats. Reviews of the Nexus 10 also abound. Your thoughts welcomed to PIND.editor@gmail.com
 
One interesting angle brought into focus by the growth of tablets is offered by the Mashable team: portrait mode and the way we use computers. The portrait way of working – as often employed by those with a slate – is something seldom replicated on a computer screen.

We have mentioned the super cheap Raspberry Pi computer before, and a list of 12 suggested uses was posted only recently to inspire geeky enthusiasts, however, Texas Instruments has even managed to reduce further the entry point for mini computing. Its single circuit board product will set you back a pocket-money price of $13.00 (£8.15) at your local Walmart!

Keep your finger on the pulse: grab an RSS feed of PIND (copy this link into your feed reader); click here for the GenesisNews #Print Daily to get the latest daily stories; or click here for regular Tech & Comms updates in blog or RSS form. You can also connect to a free subscription of the Print Daily for an update on print, publishing, packaging and associated technology delivered straight to your in-box every day! For details on Genesis Marketing – publishers of PIND – click here.

PIND121    

Missed Issue 120, including Random Penguin? Then simply click here!

Issue 119: iPad Mini and Windows 8
Issue 118: A bad week for print
Issue 117: Seven-inch tablets



Get your Tech & Comms updates direct from the blog, use the RSS feed, or keep updated via Twitter.

Printing Industry News Digest No.120, November 3, 2012

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 120, providing a summary of major news items from the printing, publishing, packaging, digital, and communications technology sectors. PIND incorporates brief summaries and links to the week’s key news stories so that you can look up that all important detail, digging deeper behind the headline.

The world of publishing this week saw the creation of Random Penguin following the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. The Guardian views the move from various perspectives. It ends up questioning the innovative capabilities of British publishers, with a German company, once just a quarter of its size, now owns Penguin.

Further to the recent problems at contract printer Newsfax, PrintWeek suggests that this is unlikely to be the last casualty in the newspaper sector. Meanwhile, manroland web systems has announced a new MD to take over the reins of the premier newspaper press provider.

Something that I think we might have missed from earlier October: the Guardian offered ten ways to save the publishing industry. Remiss of us not to pass on these oh-so-valuable tips . . . Nothing thunder and lightening here, but actually a good collection that summarises the current situation well.

In the world of printing kit, the owners of Presstek managed to offload the business at last – just two days before it was to be de-listed on the Nasdaq. The $0.50 cents per share was not pleasing to some, but objections, we are told, have been overcome and agreements reached. Oddly, the new owners appear to cite their current ownership of Mark Andy label presses as an area of potential synergies? We can see few!

Further to previous Kodak news, latest results provide an increase in net loss to $312m (£193m) in the third quarter, moving to $977m for the nine months to 30 September, with net sales falling 19% over the same periods, to $1bn and $3bn respectively. Pre-tax losses from continuing operations continue to rise. Pretty pictures are getting harder to paint.

GMail users might well have noted an updated user interface that now provides a floating window in which to create you new mail.

Following on from last week’s in-depth tablet talk, there is both iPad Mini and Nexus 10 reviews to take a peek at this week. Oprah Winfrey, in the meantime, comes out in favour of Surface!

Nice message from Dropbox received on Friday: they wanted to illustrate the further potential of the cloud by promoting six third-party iOS apps that interface with Dropbox as a document repository. The apps include CloudOn, which enables Office document editing on the go, and Paperless, a list-based solution. Meanwhile, future gazing says that we will be wearing our computers more and more!

Keep your finger on the pulse: grab an RSS feed of PIND (copy this link into your feed reader); click here for the GenesisNews #Print Daily to get the latest daily stories; or click here for regular Tech & Comms updates in blog or RSS form. You can also connect to a free subscription of the Print Daily for an update on print, publishing, packaging and associated technology delivered straight to your in-box every day! For details on Genesis Marketing – publishers of PIND – click here.

PIND120  
 
Missed Issue 119, including iPad Mini and Windows 8? Then simply click here!

Issue 118: A bad week for print
Issue 117: Seven-inch tablets
Issue 116: August shows



Get your Tech & Comms updates direct from the blog, use the RSS feed, or keep updated via Twitter.